Commanding Business

The challenge with growth is that the habits that got you here become the limitations that prevent you from getting there. Growth not only requires us to learn new habits. It requires that we unlearn old ones. I’m Tim Hamilton, CEO of Praxent and host of the Commanding Business podcast. Each week, I interview authors, experts and real world leaders about how they grew their teams, their organizations and ultimately themselves. From leadership to management and marketing to innovation, we’ll cover a variety of topics with an aim to uncover actionable takeaways you can implement in your own organization today.

Tim’s guest, Mark Moses, has had two ultra-successful businesses, starting his first at the tender age of 19. He is a long-time entrepreneur who is now coaching CEOs from all over the globe. He says, creating specific measurable results based on your company’s vision is the first and simplest step for an effective leader to take. According to Mark, putting the right people in the right positions will assist in driving business growth. If you follow the guidelines of his book, Making Big Happen, you too can create a billion dollar business.

Key Takeaways:

[1:11] Mark decided to jump into the mortgage business after his student painter business took off.

Improving business processes can be a difficult task if management approaches it without first determining the needs of the stakeholders. Gathering information from this group will help the improvement team to understand what drives your business's profit and loss. From there, creating baseline metrics will help the team to measure their progress towards improving processes. The Lean Six Sigma framework takes all of this into consideration when assisting companies with doing what they already do, only better. Kimberly Watson-Hemphill of Firefly Consulting talks with Tim about the commitment needed for a company to reach peak efficiency, implement continuous improvement and sustain the benefits of these important qualities over the long-term.

Key Takeaways:

[1:05] Helping companies do what they do, even better!

[2:54] What are the symptoms I need to look for if I think my business needs improvement?

[4:28] What drives revenue and profit?

[7:17] Empowering employees to make decisions.

[12:06] Good old fashioned communication makes everything better.

[13:44] Lean Six Sigma gives the team tools and a framework.

[15:47] Solving a problem with recruiting - a real life example.

[21:10] When Lean Six Sigma is implemented it is a win for everyone.

[23:10] Linking continuous improvement to all important business problems.

New managers often find themselves tangled in a web of different processes. If they are joining an existing organization, the processes that might have worked for their predecessors, often don’t fit current business needs. If they are entrepreneurs starting from scratch, they are tasked with finding the right framework to assist them in leading the company forward. Having disarmingly honest conversations with employees will help to align the interests of clients, employees and the business as a whole. Once leaders have a functioning framework in place, their task then become executing their strategies with clarity and purpose.

Key Takeaways:

[1:09] About John’s impressive background

[3:25] A disarmingly honest conversation leads us to aligning interests

[5:59] Pushing people until they quit gave me a chance to grow as a leader

[12:25] Connecting with people, systems & processes, and the job of the leader